


speak not a whispered word of them

by m3owww



Series: maribat [14]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: But you have been warned, Court of Owls, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson is a Talon, F/M, I don't think, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a Talon, Self-Harm, Sorry guys, Talon's just... a little messed up, Torture, but it's not very graphic?, but not with the intent to die!, she goes about the wrong way of testing a hypothesis, they're not getting their hugs yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27778180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3owww/pseuds/m3owww
Summary: Rule Number One: Stay silent unless directly addressed by Cobb, Grandmaster, or an Owl.Talon remembers breaking this rule many, many times, but only two with perfect clarity.The first time is because she is being defiant, she thinks. Why she feels the need to be, though, Talon cannot remember anymore.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Dick Grayson, but not yet - Relationship
Series: maribat [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842979
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57





	speak not a whispered word of them

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to [Blondie4404](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blondie4404/pseuds/Blondie4404) for beta reading this. She's literally the only reason why it makes any sense.

Talon took a long time to adjust to the rules of the Court.

Cobb said that her counterpart, the male Talon, had a lot less difficulty. That she should be ashamed, that she should strive to be better. Be like him. Silent, and obedient, always following the rules.

But Talon didn’t want to be like the other one. She didn’t want to be silent and still. She wanted to be able to move, to leap and dance and speak of her own volition and be free.

Free.

What an interesting concept.

How could Talon want to be free when she was always meant to serve the Court? The Court is freedom. She is already free.

(Freedom is skipping down the streets past a towering structure of metal, to a small pastel building that fills her nose with wonderful aromas-)

No. 

Freedom is going on Missions. Climbing the dark buildings of an ominous city that the sun never really shines on, inhaling the polluted air with the constant sound of police sirens ringing in her ears. Freedom is the scent and appearance of blood on her knives, on her gloves, on her hands, that will never wash off, no matter how clean it looks

Talon belongs to the Court. She has always belonged to the Court.

(So why did she have such a hard time following the rules?)

* * *

Rule Number One: Stay silent unless directly addressed by Cobb, Grandmaster, or an Owl.

Talon remembers breaking this rule many, many times, but only two with perfect clarity.

The first time is because she is being defiant, she thinks. Why she feels the need to be, though, Talon cannot remember anymore.

All she remembers is Cobb’s face, twisted into a snarl, before golden claws rip out her throat.

It hurts, of course, but she is a Talon. This is not enough to permanently kill her. She supposes that was the point, being forced to choke on thick black blood as it drip-drip-drips off her pale fingers onto the stone floor, feeling her windpipe knit itself back together.

* * *

The last time it happens, it is during training. Cobb orders Talon to fight her counterpart, the male one she was always compared to. They trade blows for what seemed like forever, and then she is just a little bit too slow.

Talon was still new, back then. She hadn’t yet learned to withhold her cries of pain when a blade goes straight through her chest and out the other side. She didn’t mean to, she really didn’t. Making sound brought pain, and she didn’t want to feel pain. But it escaped, because she was still new to being a Talon. Still adjusting.

(How could she have been new if she’d always belonged to the Court?)

Cobb orders the other Talon to tear out her throat this time, and while she is on the ground, two different wounds that were both supposed to be lethal making the black blood drip-drip-drip, she is picked up and carried to the freezing chambers.

Talon thinks she saw a flash of emotion on the other Talon’s face as she is carted off.

(But that cannot have been right, because Talons do not feel.)

* * *

Talon hates the cold. 

She’s hated it for as long as she can remember, but she thinks she can remember being able to wear thicker, fluffier clothing, and drinking something warm, brown, and sweet.

Ice freezes her blood, forcing her to stay in place in a metal chamber, frosted over, and it’s so cold, making her unable to move, can’t even scream; it’s so cold just let her out-

Talons have no concept of time. She could have been in there for days, weeks, months, years, or just minutes, and she would not have known the difference.

All she can do is silently beg, unable to even cry, only able to think and listen to the drip-drip-drip of the ventilation in the chamber, making her colder and colder, soundlessly pleading, for someone, anyone, to free her.

She’ll obey the Court. She’ll stay silent. She won’t talk to Cobb. She won’t speak to anyone, or make a single sound. She’ll be a perfect Talon, if they let her out of here. She’d do anything to escape this torturous cold, to be free.

(But isn’t she already free?)

* * *

Finally, the door to her chamber wrenches open and Talon spills out into Cobb’s arms, stifling a gasp as blissful warmth returns to her veins and she can move again.

Talon does not speak. Cobb asks if she’s ready to obey.

She answers with a sharp nod of her head. They can’t freeze her for speaking out of turn if she does not speak at all.

The smile on Cobb’s face would make anyone else shiver, but Talon is already frozen inside.

They bring her a man, chained to the stone walls of a torture chamber.

Talon obeys every order, making the man scream in a way nothing, no one, ever should, his crimson blood splattering drip-drip-drip all over the walls and floor, and when they get the information they need, Talon snaps his neck without a second thought.

She heads to the showers afterwards, desperate for the hot water to melt away the ice, for something to make her stop feeling so cold all the time.

The other Talon, the male one, is already there. They make eye contact, gold meeting gold for a moment, before something flickers through his eyes and he looks away.

It almost looked like… guilt. 

But it cannot be, because Talons do not feel.

Talon resolves to ignore it, and stands under the steaming water, watching the droplets drip-drip-drip on the ground and imagining the liquid being red. 

Or black.

Suddenly, she is cold again, and the shower stall feels a little too much like the freezing chamber. Talon panics (bad, she is never supposed to panic) and fumbles for the door handle. 

She cannot find it.

Her mouth opens, ready to scream and break the rule, if it means it gets her out of here because it’s cold, so cold and she can’t move can’t think can’t do anything-

Nothing comes out.

Talon tries again. Her healing factor should have repaired everything. She feels no pain in her throat, nothing to indicate that her vocal cords are damaged.

Nothing. Not a single sound.

Experimentally, she puts a fist in the wall and takes a jagged piece of tile, wickedly sharp, and slits her own throat, watching the black blood drip-drip-drip down the drain as she waits for it to heal.

Then, she screams again.

But just like before, nothing comes out.

Talon slumps against the cold walls of the tiny stall, the hot water drip-drip-dripping from the shower still freezing on her skin, and closes her eyes, wishing she could fade into silence and stay there in peaceful darkness.

(This is not freedom. But Talon cannot remember what is.)

Talon never breaks the speaking rule again.

**Author's Note:**

> in case you didn't understand why she can't scream, it's the trauma.
> 
> come bother me on [tumblr.](https://m3owww.tumblr.com) I love it when people do that.


End file.
